Manuel Pellegrini remains convinced Joe Hart will benefit from his spell out of the Manchester City side.

City boss Pellegrini dropped the England goalkeeper earlier this month after a period of inconsistent form in which he made a series of high-profile errors.

But despite missing the last two Barclays Premier League games Hart has retained the faith of England manager Roy Hodgson and impressed in the midweek friendly loss to Germany.

That led to suggestions the 26-year-old could return for City's home clash with Tottenham this weekend but his replacement Costel Pantilimon could again be preferred.

Pellegrini, speaking last week before Hart played for England against Germany, told Sky Sports News Arabia: "I think at this moment that maybe Joe needs a rest but we still have a lot of trust in Joe and he's still a very important player in our squad.

"I am absolutely sure that this will be an important thing for him to come back to his performances of the last two years."

Pantilimon's selection for the last four games - including a Captial One Cup tie and a Champions League group match - has finally seen the Romanian given a chance to shine.

Prior to that Pantilimon had featured only in domestic cup ties since joining the club in the summer of 2011.

Pellegrini felt it was fair the 26-year-old was given the opportunity.

He said: "It's very important for me as a manager - you don't have 11 players - you have 22.